GC 2006: Portable Ops Multiplayer

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We go head to head with the producer of the anticipated action game.

By Jeff Haynes

Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops has been one of the most eagerly anticipated titles since it was announced earlier this year at E3. The title, which is poised to fill in the gaps of the Metal Gear mythology between MGS3 and the original Metal Gear on the PSX, details the story of Naked Snake's transformation from national hero to the Big Boss that threatened the world. We were lucky to not only have the opportunity to speak with Noriaki Okamura, producer of Portable Ops, but to also play a few multiplayer matches with him to test the game out.

One of the things that Okamura specifically contributed to the development of Portable Ops was because of the large number of fan requests that Konami make an action title for the PSP, instead of the card based system used for Acid. While there were a number of ideas that were brought up, the main idea was built around collecting allies, particularly because of when the game is set. Starting six years after the events of Snake Eater (or Subsistence, if you waited for the "remixed" edition), Snake is still shaken after the loss of Boss by his hands, which has made him question whether or not he's fighting for the right things. This doubt forces him to resign from Fox, which doesn't particularly help when he gets captured, seemingly by the Soviet Union. Even worse, a fake Fox revolt is planned to frame Snake into appearing to be an enemy of both the US and his former military group. Now virtually alone and without any friends to trust, Portable Ops is the response to the situation Naked Snake finds himself in: an attempt to recruit help to fight both the US and USSR, while at the same time repelling and tracking down the members of Fox (which is the early foundations of Foxhound for MGS fans).

Snake will have to win the respect of some recruits in battle.

There are actually a number of ways that you'll be able to collect allies in the game, which won't require you to always incapacitate them to get them to join your side. There will inevitably be moments where you'll need to shoot them with a tranquilizer, but other characters will be unlocked by going to various hotspots and unlocking these characters, while others may require specific conditions be met before they consider joining your group of allies. Obviously, there are some characters that you can probably guess you'll want to be in your newly formed version of Foxhound, as Okamura stated, but you can also make obscure matches that don't necessarily match.

There are a few interesting touches to the gameplay, which haven't been reported on till now. First of all, there aren't any extras in case you happen to have been playing Acid or its sequel, at least not yet. While Okamura was not planning on having any specific characters or unlockables for older Metal Gear saved games, he did say that if there was a large enough request for something like that from fans that he'd consider it. Another thing that you'll want to keep your eyes on with the multiplayer is that Snake and any other characters in the multiplayer game will have two separate circles on the game radar to keep an eye out for during matches: The first one is the outer circle, which pops and crackles to show off the amount of noise that your opponents make on a map, giving you an idea where they happen to be at any particular point. This can make tracking down firefights much easier, especially if you're having trouble locating targets. The inner circle is your personal noise level, which can be controlled somewhat by holding the triangle button to try to sneak around. However, if you happen to be in the lead during a match, you'll actually find that your stealth level will immediately be endangered thanks to the Kerotan Frog, who will constantly croak above your position, giving your location away. This prevents players from simply grabbing the lead and camping out until the match times ends; rather, it forces you to constantly keep moving when you take the lead because you're even more of a target than before. Veterans of the multiplayer from Subsistence will probably feel right at home with this gameplay.

This one could be tougher than he thought.

While there isn't a set number of maps yet (Okamura has been saying that the story has been much more important than the exact number of multiplayer maps, but according to him it will feature a fair number of stages), there will be at least four separate multiplayer match types that up to six players can compete in via ad hoc and infrastructure play. These will include deathmatch, team deathmatch, Kerotan Rugby (which should be exactly what it sounds like - moving the Kerotan from place to place and trying to bring it to an area so you can score) and Kerotan Capture. Finally, Portable Ops will support game sharing for up to four players in deathmatch games, so your friends can get a sense of what the final game will be like when it hits store shelves this winter. We'll have more on Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops as soon as it's available.